Scientists have recently discovered a method to turn greenhouse gasses into clean air through artificial photosynthesis. The process also generates energy simultaneously.

It is a win-win process as this amazing technology will not only help in reducing greenhouse gasses which are the main culprit of climate change but will also develop a clean way to yield energy.

How they managed to achieve this:

The team developed a way to trigger a chemical reaction with blue light mimicking the blue wavelength of sunlight and converting CO2 into two reduced forms, formate and formamides. Formate and formamides are two kinds of solar fuel and can be used as energy sources.

One of the researchers, Fernando Uribe-Romo, said, “Tailoring materials that will absorb a specific colour of light is very difficult from the scientific point of view, but from the societal point of view we are contributing to the development of a technology that can help reduce greenhouse gasses.”

“The goal is to continue to fine-tune the approach so we can create greater amounts of reduced carbon so it is more efficient,” said Uribe-Romo.

The researcher is also exploring whether other wavelengths of visible light may also trigger the reaction as well. If it works, it could significantly help to reduce greenhouse gas levels.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. You can also find Nidhi on Google+.